Tyler, Wichita Falls and the Pasture
gary-wiseman
Randolph Gary Wiseman Jr. was born January 6, 1979, in Tyler, Texas. His family moved to Wichita Falls before he turned two, and that is the place Gary considers home.
He now lives in Little Elm, Texas, with his wife, Annique, their son, Tyler, their daughter, Mia, and the family dog, Benny.
Gary grew up in what he describes as a normal lower-middle-class family. His parents divorced when he was in first grade, and his mother raised Gary and his older sister in a single-parent, single-income household.
His mother was a teacher.
When Gary was young, she had summers off. Once the children were old enough, she began teaching summer school too, bringing in additional income for the family.
She eventually taught at Wichita Falls High School while Gary was a student there. He never had her as a teacher, but many of his friends did. Former students still contact him to say she was one of the best teachers they ever had.
Having his mother in the building had advantages.
Whenever Gary needed aspirin, a pen or something else he had forgotten, he could stop by her classroom.
There was one significant disadvantage.
Whenever he got into trouble, Gary tried to reach her before anyone else could tell her what had happened.
He rarely succeeded.
Word travels quickly in a high school.
It travels even faster when your mother works there.
Gary was a typical 1980s kid. He watched Saturday-morning cartoons, played with G.I. Joe, He-Man and Transformers, and carried toy guns into imaginary battles that lasted for hours.
A huge pasture sat behind the family’s house. Gary explored nearly every part of it with his BB gun. He played sports, rode his bicycle all over town and spent as much time as possible away from the house with his friends.
He played soccer, baseball and basketball, sticking with basketball through seventh grade. He began playing football in junior high but never cared deeply about the sport. By then, music and skateboarding had started pulling him in another direction.
Skateboarding gave him something to do with his friends.
Music gave him something to build his life around.
